BATH — Nearly 300 years after he lost his head near Ocracoke Island, a bit of Blackbeard has finally come home to Bath, where he lived for a time during his career in piracy.

The Queen Anne’s Revenge traveling exhibit, which contains artifacts from the pirate’s ship, opened with great fanfare during festivities held Thursday evening and Friday morning. A “sneak peek” preview was held in conjunction with a pirate-themed art show and a public ribbon cutting ceremony, officially welcoming the exhibit to Historic Bath State Historic Site.

The exhibit has toured the state and has previously been shown in such diverse communities as Ashville, New Bern, Edenton and Greensboro, according to Dr. Kevin Cherry, who serves as director of the Office of Archives and History and deputy secretary of the Department of Cultural Resources.

Leigh Swain, Historic Bath State Historic Site manager, said she is thrilled to host the exhibit for the next several weeks.

“You may realize that one of the goals of the QAR exhibit was to bring these unique coastal artifacts to more interior parts of the state where Blackbeard’s story doesn’t get told very often,” Swain noted. “I think that’s great, but let’s admit it, it is even better to bring the exhibit to Bath because we all know who Blackbeard belongs to, don’t we?”

The wreck site of the Queen Anne’s Revenge lies in approximately 25 feet of water 1.5 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Carteret County. The site is an ongoing scientific archaeological excavation and items recovered are being preserved and researched at the Archaeological Conservation Laboratory on the campus of East Carolina University.

The exhibit now offered for public viewing in Bath features a wealth of historical information featured in videos and displays, but it’s the artifacts themselves that capture the attention of visitors. As expected, weaponry has been recovered from the shipwreck site and the display includes a pair of six-pounder cannon balls, lead shot, remnants of a trigger guard and a gun flint. Also featured are relics of everyday life aboard the pirate ship, such as a pewter dinner plate, a spoon fragment, pipe stem and bowl, bottle glass, straight pins and several glass beads, which researchers believe may have been used in the slave trade.

The festivities surrounding the exhibit’s grand opening in Bath were the collaborative efforts of the historic site, the Historic Bath Commission, Historic Bath Foundation, Bath High School Preservation and the Town of Bath. Financial support of the project was provided by PotashCorp-Aurora.

“I was so thrilled that we as a community were able to rally around a central mission,” said Peggy Daw, who serves as Historic Bath Commission chair.

Along with Swain, Cherry and Daw, speakers and distinguished guests on hand for the ceremonies included Keith Hardison, division director of N.C. State Historic Sites; Jeff Bockert, regional supervisor of historic sites; and Kevin Duffus, historian and author of “The Last Days of Black Beard the Pirate.”

A highlight of the event was the unveiling of a painting by renowned local watercolor artist Jeffrey Jakub. “The Return of the Pamlico River Pirates” captures Blackbeard and his crew during a layover in Bath; the painting is the focal point of an art exhibit in the former high school building that also includes movie posters and other pirate memorabilia.

For more information on Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge traveling exhibit and other summer events hosted by Historic Bath, call 252-923-3971 or visit www.bath.nchistoricsites.org.